Greg Berlanti Talks 'Black Lightning', Why the Show Exists Outside of the Arrowverse

Black Lightning makes its debut on The CW tonight, taking the network's roster of superhero programming to new heights. And according to one of the show's producers, Greg Berlanti, the process of bringing that show to life has been pretty unique.

In a recent interview with Variety, Berlanti was asked about the series, and why he decided to become involved in the project. With Berlanti's filmography ranging from The CW's Arrowverse shows to Riverdale and Blindspot, he wanted to extend his resources to those creating Black Lightning.

"From the beginning, [showrunners] Mara and Salim [Akil] had an incredibly specific vision about what they wanted this to be and feel and look like," Berlanti explained, "and I really felt like it was our job in this process to just give them all the tools that are based on our experience so they had as much knowledge as they could."

"It's been much more I think the technical aspect of it like stunts and DPs and production design and when do you need a suit done by so you can air it in time." Berlanti continued. "Our role has been more informational and supportive that way, and it's been incredibly rewarding because it's helping them in a different capacity."

Because of Berlanti's involvement with Black Lightning, fans have already begun to speculate if the series will eventually join the Arrowverse. As of now, there are no plans for those crossovers to happen, and Berlanti argued that there's a good reason for that.

"As far as I know everyone's always wanted [Black Lightning to be separate]." Berlanti revealed. "Salim wants that. And the studio and the network want that. They're very different tonal shows. As people watch them. I'm not sure they could sort of ever quite imagine yet how we would be able to ever connect those things. It's always existed outside."

And while a crossover between Black Lightning and the Arrowverse shows could be possible, Legends of Tomorrow and Arrow showrunner Marc Guggenheim has hinted at what it would need to take to make that happen.

"My preference actually would be to start talking about it sooner rather than later." Guggenheim recently told ComicBook.com. "Because it really is like doing — I know there's now five shows along with Black Lightning, that's not to say that Black Lightning is a part of the Arrowverse, that's above my pay grade — but I will say whether you consider it four shows or five shows, doing the crossover is like doing a fifth or sixth show. And getting out as far ahead of it as possible is always good."

Black Lightning will debut tonight at 9/8c on The CW.